The Tampa Bay Rays dropped their AL Wild-Card Series opener to the Texas Rangers 4-0 on Tuesday. There were 19,704 fans in attendance at Tropicana Field, the smallest number of fans to attend an MLB playoff game in more than 100 years.
via Athlete Tyler Kepnerthe Game 1 crowd was the lowest attendance for a postseason game — outside of the 2020 COVID-19 season — since Game 7 of the 1919 World Series in Cincinnati.
Here’s some perspective on the 19,704 people in attendance today at the Trop: According to @stathead, it’s the lowest attendance (in a non-COVID year) for a postseason game in 104 years. The last game under 19704 was Game 7 of the infamous 1919 World Series in Cincinnati.
– Tyler Kepner (@TylerKepner) October 3, 2023
The Reds had a reason for their decline in numbers in 1919, According to Saber Editorial content manager Jacob Pomrenke:
Some context on the 1919 World Series ticket crunch: The Reds forced fans to buy 3-game packages, and this was their 4th home game – single game tickets were only on sale for a few hours that morning in downtown Cincinnati. Noon 13 Only 1k for match 7 (of 8).”
MLB The 2023 regular season, announced Monday Total attendance was seen reaching 70,747,365, meaning an increase of over 6 million fans from 2022, an increase of 9.6%. The Rays finished 27th overall with 1.4 million. According to the Tampa Bay Business Journal. This total breaks down to an average of nearly 17,800 per game, an increase of nearly 4,000 per game from last season.
This embedded content is not available in your region.
The issue of attendance at Tropicana Park has been a topic for many years. But there is hope that a new $1.6 billion, 30,000-seat stadium scheduled to open in time for the 2028 season will put an end to that talk.
The Rays’ product on the field certainly deserves more seats lately, with four division titles, nine playoff appearances, and two trips to the World Series since 2008. And with the 2023 season on the line on Wednesday, you’d think the ballpark would be a little fuller than In order to create a better atmosphere.
“Alcohol enthusiast. Twitter ninja. Tv lover. Falls down a lot. Hipster-friendly coffee geek.”